


The Before

by missgaley



Series: Skyfront [1]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Original Work, Skyfront
Genre: F/F, Gen, and have no idea what to tag it with, just some pre-campaign fluff and angst and everything in between, not as many dungeons or dragons as you'd expect, that moment when you want to publish all your D&D writing, want some slice of life? here's some slice of life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-07 04:25:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 9,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14072850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missgaley/pseuds/missgaley
Summary: 2016—ongoing.A collection of prior works written about spy, gunslinger, and rogue Hannah Dureau and her pre-campaign story. Timeline of events may vary in consistency due to the age of the piece and are arranged non-chronologically.(Skyfront is a homebrew D&D campaign comprised of five ninth-level morons who still don't know what the hell it is they're doing.)





	1. First Meetings, Pt. 1

_I. “There are some secrets which do not permit themselves to be told.”_

* * *

 A quiet chirp and the sudden appearance of tiny talons gripping the pages of her book caused Hannah to look up from the words and at the tiny sparrow that perched there. “Shoo,” she whispered, gently batting it away. The sparrow disappeared in a startled flurry of brown and tan feathers but Hannah didn’t resume reading; instead, her unexpected, temporary companion had served as an important reminder to pay attention.

She looked down at the dirt road at least fifteen feet below her. No one had passed through this way for hours and eventually she’d become bored. Stretched out on a sturdy branch, Hannah had been keeping watch since the early hours of the morning. She knew that eventually her mark was going to walk down this road; it was only a matter of time.

It was too bad that she was bored out of her mind.

What could possibly be keeping the elf? Hannah had found her in a nearby town the day before and she certainly didn’t appear to be particularly occupied. From what Hannah gathered, she was floating between villages, doing odd jobs here and there. Not just odd jobs, in fact—it was more like she was righting wrongs and putting an end to whatever small injustices she came across. It was enough to make Hannah roll her eyes but there was no doubt she was keeping herself busy that way. The world was full of terrible people doing terrible things; she would never be lacking for work, that was for certain.

She was young for an elf, not that Hannah was an expert exactly, but it meant that she could afford some naïveté. Perhaps that wasn’t quite the word for it but it was close enough anyway. Hannah hadn’t had time to really figure out what made this girl tick. That wasn’t her job this time. She was more interested in the _other_ people who were interested in the young elf. So far she’d come up empty-handed, but that was all about to change if her instincts were correct… and they usually were.

This particular road was both the fastest way to the next town and the perfect place for an ambush. Anyone native to the area would know that, of course, but a few well-placed silver pieces had ensured that information had not made it to the elf’s ears. There was certainly something unjust about helping along a supposed kidnapping plot but, nevertheless, here she was. Now she was just waiting for the result of her subtle efforts. Whoever wanted to capture this girl would have to reveal themselves and then Hannah could find out exactly who they were and, ideally, where they were hiding out. Theoduin hadn’t asked for any more; he’d simply told her to ensure the kidnapping took place.

Hannah had learned a long time ago that she didn’t need—or often _want—_ to know the details.

Another chirp jolted her from her out thoughts. The sparrow was back, now perched carefully on her knee. Hannah raised an eyebrow. It was unusually friendly. Did it think that she was not a threat? Or it just thought that she was a part of the tree. Both could easily be applied to Hannah: she made a point of blending in. If someone didn’t know the kind of secrets she kept, stole, and bargained with, they’d probably think her harmless… which was exactly how she liked it. And, more presently, Hannah had been up this tree for so long, she wouldn’t be surprised if she sprouted leaves any second now.

The sound of approaching footsteps made her sit up. As soon as she moved, the sparrow took flight again and did not return. Hannah put away her book and slowly lowered herself from the branches she’d been hiding in. Careful to stay behind the tree-line, she poked her head around the trunk and saw a familiar face coming her way.

Fay’vre Elenviel was her name apparently. Hannah realized she hadn’t made much of a point of using it so far. Since she wasn’t the actual target of Hannah’s latest assignment, she supposed it just hadn’t mattered quite as much. It sounded cold and it was. Otherwise, Hannah would feel a lot guiltier over allowing—and helping—a seemingly innocent girl to be ambushed on the road.

She spotted movement in the trees before Fay’vre did. The elf had no reason to expect any of this but Hannah was relying on it. So when the first would-be kidnapper leapt out from the shadows, Hannah was ready to let the situation play out… until something felt off.

It didn’t take long to realize that they were not aiming to subdue but to kill. Whatever this was, it was no kidnapping and Hannah had not signed up for anything more than that. Had it been a mistake? Was Theoduin’s information bad? For some reason, _that_ didn’t sit well with Hannah. He had an uncanny knack for knowing things that should have been impossible. The idea of him being _wrong_ seemed less likely than it was that he’d deliberately mislead her.

That irritated her more than anything but now was clearly not the time to dwell on it.

Hannah knew that whatever she did now, she was going to have to live with it. Either she blew her cover or she let a girl be murdered in cold blood. She winced; there was a reason that she let Arinese handle the bloodier side of things. Outright murder was not something Hannah could stomach unless there was a damn good reason for it.

Putting a bullet between one man’s eyes in the defense of an overwhelmed stranger was good enough for her. He fell before he could put a dagger in the elf’s back and his friend, only a few feet away, was next. Hannah didn’t even have to reload before the two of them had dispatched of the remaining thugs. As it turned out, Fay’vre could handle herself once the playing field was a little more even.

She turned to thank Hannah, smiling at her in a way so genuinely earnest that Hannah was momentarily disarmed. When she introduced herself, Hannah nodded without hesitation.

“I’m Hannah,” she replied. “And it was no problem.”

It was going to be a _huge_ problem, she thought later, when the dust settled and Hannah had picked several pockets clean in an attempt to at least finish her job. And then an unusually affable silence fell as they continued down the road together, neither knowing what would come next.


	2. First Meetings, Pt. 2

_II. “Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore...”_

* * *

 “You're an artist.”

The voice came from behind her, clear as day, her words a statement rather than a question. The first woman’s brow furrowed and she looked over her shoulder to see a tall human woman, blonde and well-dressed too. She came from money yet she was down here with the merchants. She could have sent someone here for her, by the looks of it, but she'd come in person. Most who did that only did so in order to flaunt their own wealth. They made themselves look charitable by gracing those of the working class with their presence.

But this woman didn't seem like that at all. She seemed genuinely interested in the notebook in the first woman’s lap. It was filled with rough sketches. Some were ideas, others just moments captured as people passed by in the streets. They were faces she would never remember otherwise, not that they even needed remembering.

“Not really,” the first woman replied. “It's just a hobby.”

“Well, for just a hobby, they're very good,” came the response.

Not sure what compelled her to do so, the first woman moved over, allowing the blonde one to sit down on the wooden bench next to her. It was half-expected that the other would refuse but she sat without hesitation, pouring over what little she could see of the first woman’s sketches.

“And what are these?” she asked, a puzzled expression on her face. She was pointing to one of the messier sketches, erased and re-drawn over and over. Neat handwriting accompanied them with what looked to be measurements and the like. The blonde clearly did not know what she was looking at but she seemed genuinely intrigued nonetheless. “Are they objects?”

“Blueprints,” the first woman answered. And for a moment there was a touch of pride in her voice. It had been a long time since anyone had bothered to ask what it was she was working on this time. Albeit the blonde woman was a stranger and would likely bore of this conversation soon enough. But it was nice to be asked, just once in awhile. “They're not finished yet. It's an engine of sorts. Silly, really. I don't know what it would power, just that it will work.”

“How?” The puzzled expression persisted but there was something else the first woman could not describe. It was curiosity. It was the same look she got when she was trying to figure out a puzzle of her own. She hardly noticed that the blonde’s gaze had shifted away from the notebook now and instead was focused on _her._ “Explain it to me?”

And that was all the prompting that the first woman needed. She did explain, although the moment the technical terminology began to flow, she wondered if she would lose her singular audience. Nevertheless, she kept going, excitement bubbling over as she got to explain her ideas to someone who was listening. The first woman was lost for awhile in her own words but when she did look up again, the blonde woman was indeed still listening. Not quite as attentively to the words, perhaps, but she was watching her with a smile that the first woman could not quite decipher.

“I'm Katie,” the blonde said once the other woman had finished with her explanation.

Somehow, it seemed fairly clear that the explanation had been lost on Katie fairly early on but she was still there, focused on the first woman as if she had understood every word anyway. Her gaze held the other woman in an almost dumbstruck silence for a moment before she could shake herself out of it.

“I'm Hannah.”


	3. Dance Lessons

_III. "And I fell violently on my face.”_

* * *

 At the mention of learning to dance, Hannah looked as if someone had just suggested she go swimming in mud, covered in leeches, and being chased by a bear. At least, her exaggerated expression of horror certainly warranted a particularly hyperbolic description. Her brother snorted. He’d expected nothing less. Hannah was not exactly the most finessed of young women, although at thirteen she was certainly discovering her own clever charm. 

Around her brother, however, she saw no reason to grace him with anything more than a disdainful scoff, as if she couldn’t believe he’d even suggest such a thing. Blue-grey eyes stared at him in disbelief for only a moment longer before returning to the contraption she was working on. It looked like it was supposed to be some sort of functioning joint. For all he knew, she was building herself a third arm. She probably is, he thought.

“Let me guess, Mum put you up to this,” she said with a level of insight he should have expected from her. As if he could possibly have passed this off as his own idea; he had not exactly enjoyed his own lessons when he was her age but dancing had grown on him. Besides, he was thankful for having something to do at formal events besides making small talk. Hannah was better at that than he ever would be. She could talk circles around him and still have him listening once it stopped making any inkling of sense.

He sighed and nodded. He caught her gaze flicking up to him and back down again. She was sitting on the floor and he towered over her this way. She was too focused on her project to pay him more than a moment’s notice and he supposed he should feel lucky she was gracing him with the gift of conversation, he thought wryly. Her stubborn teenager phase was settling in nicely so he would take what he could get. 

“She thinks you need a hobby.” That got her attention. She gave him a look as if to say _‘what do you think I’m doing?’_ and he shrugged helplessly. “She didn’t mean it that way. Just something… different. You study and help dad. And…” 

Her project got a vague wave. It was not dismissive, merely clueless. He’d find out eventually, probably whilst fending off their mother when Hannah’s latest invention inevitably broke something. She was going through a small destructive streak—her projects were more ambitious than her skill and had a knack for backfiring on her. He did his best to run parental damage control while his sister did the real work. Maybe that’s why their mother was on a crusade to sign Hannah up for anything that didn’t involve tinkering. She was supportive, of course, but he could see her patience wearing thin as of late. He just had to convince Hannah to placate her and take up one of their mother’s new ‘hobbies’ for a little while. 

He’d already vetoed embroidery on a well-meaning hunch.

“Just run with me on this one, Han.”

She was chewing on the inside of her cheek, thinking. He could see the gears turning in her mind. Hannah could say no, but risk their mother’s ‘wrath.’ Or she could play along, trusting that her brother was not trying to make her completely miserable. Besides, he had an idea. 

“Who knows? You might even impress someone one day. I know you fancy that girl down road. Is that the tanner’s daughter—”

There was a loud shriek and, project abandoned, he watched the whirlwind that was his sister as she leapt to her feet and launched herself at him as she tried to cover his mouth with her hands. He grinned. If Hannah thought that she was a good liar, she had a lot to learn before she could fool anyone. He fended her off, holding her by the shoulders at arm’s length. She looked furious but flustered, if her red cheeks were anything to judge by.

“You tell anyone and I will kill you in your sleep with your own pillow,” Hannah threatened, but she was as intimidating as she was a natural liar. 

“You mean you don’t want Mum to set you two up on dates? I’m sure she would if it meant getting you out of the house—”

“I’ll learn to dance, okay? Now shut up or I’ll make you!” 

Her brother nearly doubled over laughing while Hannah looked like she was about to stab him with something pointy from her pile of scrap metal. Riling her up was so easy these days and while he sometimes felt like a bad brother for it, it was just too much fun. Thinking better of murdering her brother and later declaring it a crime of passion, Hannah simply crossed her arms and stared at him.

“Fine. Are _you_ going to teach me?” she asked.

“I could. Mum was going to find a teacher but if it would make you feel better—”

“Yes!” She interrupted him, once again looking as if taking dance lessons from a proper teacher was the most horrifying idea in the entire world, and he bit his tongue to keep from laughing. “Just don’t let her go overboard on this.”

Hannah had a point: if left unchecked, their mother could certainly be trusted to turn it all into the plot of one of those coming-of-age novels Hannah claimed she never read. If it were him in this position, he would be mortified. Better not to risk it, he decided.

“Okay, but you’re going to have to stand on my feet. You’re too short to be my dance partner.”

It was of no surprised when Hannah unapologetically stomped on his foot.


	4. For You

_IV. “We loved with a love that was more than love.”_

* * *

 “You would hate it!”

“Says who?” 

“Says me,” Katie replied, giving Hannah a peck on the cheek as she walked past.

Hannah rolled her eyes and carefully grabbed her around the waist, pulling her back against her. Katie let out a squeak of protest—mostly because she was trying to balance an artists’ palette without getting any of the watercolours on herself.

“Hannah!” She tried to wriggle free and Hannah merely held her there, waiting for the inevitable ‘hmph’ that preceded an eventual lack of protest. Both followed suit moments later. “At least let me put this down, will you?” 

Katie was released long enough to set the palette down where it wouldn’t be disturbed before returning to Hannah, resting her arms on her shoulders as they looped around the back her girlfriend’s neck.

“Fine, you have my undivided attention. Are you happy now?”

“Yes,” Hannah responded with a contented hum. Katie feigned a sigh but didn’t protest any further. “Now why would I hate it?”       

“Well, for one, your mother would want to be involved in every second of it—”         

“Okay, okay, I see your point,” Hannah replied, scrunching up her nose. She loved her parents but goodness knew her mother could be smothering at the best of times. She meant well but sometimes Hannah wondered if she realized that her daughter wasn’t ten anymore. “But that doesn’t mean I would _hate_ it—”          

“Oh, I’m not done,” Katie continued, smirking. “You’d hate it because your mother would make you wear a dress and I wouldn’t even try to fight on your behalf this time.”       

Hannah raised an eyebrow. _You wouldn’t,_ it seemed to say but Katie just laughed.

So _that’s_ how it was going to be then. Hannah leaned in close but rather than moving in for a kiss, she leaned close to Katie’s ear and whispered, _“Traitor.”_          

Katie merely laughed again and just batted Hannah’s face away from her ear gently, shivering when the other woman’s voice sent chills down her spine.           

“It’s your _mother_. Do you really think I could fight her on that, even on your behalf?” she teased.

Hannah pressed her lips together and just sighed dramatically. 

“Well, we’re not the ones getting married so I don’t have to worry about that, now do I?” 

“Not _yet,”_ Katie lilted and finally took the opportunity to dance out of Hannah’s grasp. She picked up her palette again and didn’t even have to look to know that Hannah was following her anyway. “She’s already being bad enough about _this_ wedding and we’re only going because my father thought it would be inappropriate for me to turn down the invitation.”

Hannah did wince a little. Her mother was far too excited at the prospect of her daughter going to a wedding. And, of course, she had to dress up; it would be improper not to. Hannah didn’t entirely despise the notion but Katie’s family were far more likely to care about that sort of thing. Hannah’s mother, on the other hand, just wanted to see her in a proper dress for the first time since she was a little girl. Rompers and the like during her teenage years apparently did not count.

“I’m sure it will be fine,” Hannah reassured. She could see the crease forming between Katie’s eyes. It only ever appeared when she was afraid she was going to upset someone. In this case, it was more likely her father than Hannah but the other woman was determined to make it better either way. “It will be fun.”

Katie just gave her a pointed look.

“It will be stuffy and you will be stuck in that dress for _hours_ and you will dread the day I ever bring up the idea again—” 

The only way to stop her rambling was with a kiss (or so Hannah deemed it just then) and it worked. Lacing her fingers through Katie’s, Hannah raised an eyebrow. Katie rarely got so worked up unless it was something she really cared about.

“Again?” she asked, a cheeky smile appearing.

“Again… as in… perhaps in passing, another time in the future…” 

Katie was slowly flushing pink in the cheeks. Kissing her once more, Hannah pulled away to find something to draw with, leaving Katie to finally go back to her painting. She glanced over her shoulder and had to bite her lip to keep from laughing at just how flustered Katie looked. It wasn’t a first but it was far less common that Hannah was the one to do the flustering.

“Well, next time we just leave my mother out of it. Oh! We could just tell her after. She’d probably wring my neck for it but at least we could still say it happened for the whole twelve hours it would take her to find out…”

As Hannah rambled on, she didn’t realize that Katie was staring at her. Slowly, she stopped blushing but it was replaced with a brilliant smile. Joking around or not, Hannah hadn’t even shyed away from the idea of marrying her. Hannah would never have said it aloud but this was enough.

“I still think you’d look lovely in the dress,” Katie teased, half-expecting _that_ half of the idea to be shut down immediately. She was pleasantly surprised when Hannah just waved a hand absently, as if to dismiss any more doubts. 

“For you and you only.”


	5. Never Normal

_V._ _“Years of love have been forgot, In the hatred of a minute.”_

* * *

 “You’re not making any sense, Hannah!” 

Katie followed Hannah into the other room in a manner that could only be described—almost comically—as a hurricane of blonde curls and a frown. But clearly there was nothing comical about the situation to Katie, who looked ten kinds of livid, although she was hiding it very well. Katie didn’t get angry often but when she did, Hannah had the common sense to be incredibly well-behaved. That didn’t seem to be saving her now, however. Usually Katie was angry at someone else and this time her wrath was directed entirely at the dark-haired woman. 

“If you bothered to talk to me anymore, maybe I could understand what’s going on but it’s all secrets with you now!” 

When Hannah didn’t respond, Katie grabbed her shoulder. That caught Hannah’s attention and she turned to face her girlfriend, an eyebrow raised. Katie huffed at how nonchalant she looked about the whole matter. Never mind all the nights she knew that Hannah was _scared,_ so much so that she would be shaking in her sleep. But did she ever talk about it? Of course not. She would just pretend that nothing was going on.

“I thought you quit… whatever this is!” 

“I did,” Hannah replied evenly. Katie bristled; she hated that tone almost more than she hated the situation. It wasn’t Hannah. She was shy but once someone broke through her shell, her enthusiasm could not be matched. This new ‘neutral’ persona she’d adopted was the epitome of frustrating because Katie knew that this wasn’t her. Kate crossed her arms and Hannah continued, “I was made a better offer.” 

“Oh, so that changes things? You wanted out so badly!”

Out of what, she didn’t know (obviously) but it was enough to shake Hannah, who despite any awkwardness, never seemed scared of anything. And she’d promised Katie that she’d quit; she _promised._ If it was bothering her that much, then Katie wanted her to quit and Hannah seemed to agree.

Until now, apparently. 

“What does this mean? You’re leaving again?” Katie asked.

For a brief moment, the anger was beginning to dissipate, in favour of disappointment. She didn’t even need an answer; Hannah was already gathering her things, listening to but not engaging with the conversation at hand. Katie sighed, stomping over (she had more class than that but right now she didn’t care) and putting her hand over Hannah’s backpack.

“You’re leaving again,” she repeated. 

It wasn’t a question this time. Katie could feel the tears welling up. This wasn’t fair; Hannah always had something she was up to. And while Katie clearly didn’t approve, Hannah still did it. Nothing could dissuade her once she was determined enough, whether it was to find the solution to a problem or just the chance to do something extraordinary, or someone had a gun to her head. The irony of the new figure of speech was not lost on her.

“Normal is never going to be good enough for you, is it?” she asked quietly. 

Hannah, sensing the danger had (mostly) passed, carefully moved Katie’s hand off of her bag but didn’t resume packing just yet. Instead, she wrapped her arms around Katie’s waist and pulled her in close. Katie wanted to stay annoyed but the moment Hannah kissed her, everything seemed _almost_ okay again. She just gave Hannah a pointed look before resting her head on her shoulder.

“I’m still mad at you.”

“I know.” Hannah’s smirk could be heard, if not actually seen. She pressed a second kiss to Katie’s forehead then let her cheek rest on the top of her head. “But when has ‘normal’ ever applied to you and me?”

 _Never_. And Katie wanted normal. Maybe not completely mundane but the sort of normal that meant no secrets, no leaving without telling Katie where she was going as not to involve her any more than she already was—and what did that even mean anyway? Hannah never seemed to go that far and yet she still felt worlds away from home. At least when she was working on the airships, she came home at the end of the day. Test flights had been the only exception. 

Now she was gone more often than not, often with that elf woman, Fay’vre. The _thought_ had crossed Katie’s mind but she had dismissed it quickly. Hannah was not like that. Katie had no doubt that Hannah loved her. It was obvious whenever she was around… but she was hardly around anymore. And Katie wondered if it was for the best. _She_ didn’t want to move on. She wanted Hannah. But she didn’t know what Hannah wanted anymore.

_And it hurt._

“Go,” she mumbled into Hannah’s shoulder. She felt the taller woman crane her neck to try to see Katie’s face but she didn’t want to move. If she let go, then it was over and she didn’t want it to be over. Hannah must have sensed something to be off because she stiffened and Katie felt it. “Spend some time with Fay’vre. Goodness knows she could use a friend to be social with. Do whatever it is you need to do but…”

She let go. Katie took several steps back, trying to wipe away the tears when she looked into her blurry girlfriend’s eyes. 

“Maybe you should go home once you’re back.”

Home, as in her parents’ house. They always teased that between Katie and Hannah’s work, they never saw their daughter anymore. They didn’t even suspect, for all Katie knew. They would be thrilled to see her. She doubted they would feel quite as thrilled to find out that Katie was responsible for hurting her though. 

Several moments passed in silence. At first, Hannah stared at her, trying to figure out whether or not she was serious. When Katie gave no sign to suggest that she didn’t mean it the way they both knew she did, Hannah resumed packing. This time she packed more than she usually did. 

_“Katie—”_

Hannah opened her mouth to say something but was promptly cut off by someone calling her name from the other room. She sighed. That was Fay’vre. Hannah must have told the elf where to find her. And why wouldn’t she? This was her home… until now.

The dark-haired woman went to grab her things and leave but Katie caught her wrist before she could fully step out the bedroom door.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, then let go.

This was the first time she thought she saw Hannah look like she was going to cry. Katie watched from the doorway as Hannah went to join Fay’vre. If the elf had noticed anything, it certainly didn’t seem like it. She seemed confused to see Hannah ready to leave already.

“Why are you packed? I just wanted to check in about the plan for tomorrow—” 

“Come on, let’s go. Why wait? It’s not like we’re missing much here.”

“Hannah, it’s the middle of the night, are you certain this is an appropriate time—”

_“Let’s go.”_

And then the front door closed behind them, without even a second glance from Hannah. Fay’vre, however, had looked between the two of them at the mention of not ‘missing much’.

Katie sighed and wandered back into their— _her_ —bedroom and sat down on the bed.

At least she was used to the quiet nowadays.


	6. One Of A Kind

_VI. “All that we see and seem is but a dream within a dream.”_

* * *

 “Katie. Katie. _Katelyn._ ”

Hannah chuckled, noting just how close Katie’s nose was to her canvas. And she clearly was not listening; she was too focused on her careful brush strokes to hear her. If Hannah weren’t the subject of her latest piece, she might have thought the other woman had completely forgotten she was there.

A pair of squinting blue-green eyes finally peered around the canvas then sighed with relief.

“Oh good, you didn’t move this time. You are a better distraction than you are a model.”

Katie’s face promptly vanished from sight again but that didn’t stop Hannah from rolling her eyes. Sitting still for several hours on end was possibly the dullest thing she had ever subjected herself to. Perhaps if there was something for _her_ to do as well, but her main goal was to sit and look pretty… and make silly faces when she was certain Katie wasn’t watching.

“I could have told you that,” Hannah mumbled under her breath, albeit with fondness in her soft tone. “Anyone could have.”

Staring at the tip of her own nose, Hannah watched her vision slowly blur as she went cross-eyed. She heard an exasperated sigh from a few feet away and although she couldn’t see the look Katie was giving her, Hannah knew that she was in for it.

Blinking the studio back into focus, she watched Katie set down her brushes. Grinning triumphantly, Hannah finally stretched out her legs as the other woman came to join her. Hands on her hips, she assessed her subject ‘critically’ but couldn’t avoid the brunette’s downright infectious mirth.

“You are a menace,” she declared, throwing her hands up with a sense of finality that Hannah could only conclude meant she was being set free. Katie absently fussed with Hannah’s hair, loose from its usual braid for for the occasion and falling past her shoulders. “Lovely, as always, but an absolute menace.”

Hannah merely blinked up at her with the most innocent look she could muster. A hand was held out for her and Hannah took it, glad to finally be out of that chair and back on her feet again. She let herself be guided to the other side of the canvas where she was surprised to see a surprisingly accurate depiction of… well, _her._

 _“Wow,”_ was all she could say which seemed to please Katie immensely.

“Well, considering I doubt I’ll be able to convince you to do that ever again, I suppose it’s now a one-of-a-kind,” the blonde teased. “Although I _could_ always draw you while you’re sleeping…”

Hannah raised an eyebrow as if to ask _“you haven’t yet?”_ Then she shook her head and looped her arm through Katie’s, beginning to maneuvre her towards the door. They had been cooped up in the studio all day when it was perfectly nice outside.

Besides, Katie wasn’t the only one with plans. Hannah had just been waiting for the opportunity to escape and drag the other woman along with her.

“Come on, it’s almost sunset and I have something I want to show you. The least you could do is humour _me_ for a couple of hours…” she quipped, earning herself a light-hearted scowl. “I promise it will be worth it. If you don’t end up glued to that easel all night anyway…”

Turning to face Hannah properly, Katie looked at her curiously.

“Okay, my interest is piqued…”

“Have you ever been to the top of the clocktower? I’ve heard it has quite the view,” Hannah asked simply. The expression of complete surprise and disbelief was worth it.

“Isn’t it closed to the public? How do you reckon we’ll get up there?” she asked skeptically.

Hannah’s smirk only grew. That was Katie’s first clue that she was certainly up to something. Hannah pulled a set of lockpicks out of one of her pockets and Katie immediately responded with, “That’s illegal.”

“It’s an _adventure,”_ Hannah stated with a flourish.

Katie didn’t even bother to ask when Hannah had learned to pick locks and the latter didn’t explain; her brother had taught her many things. Some of them had been a secret for only the two of them and she planned to keep it that way, even now.

"I don't usually break and enter on the first date—"

“—so it's a good thing this isn't our first date," Hannah replied quickly. Then, as if to reassure her, she added, "You'll love it."

“I love you,” came the response, although Hannah was already halfway through the door and didn’t hear it. She was too excited by her own plan to realize what she had missed. Katie didn’t mind, however. It was the first time she’d said those words but it would not be the last.

Her enthusiasm was contagious though and Katie soon found herself looking very much forward to the view of Freya that she had been promised. Now she just had to make sure Hannah didn’t get herself arrested trying to show it to her.


	7. Don't Leave

_VII. “I dread the events of the future, not in themselves but in their results.”_

* * *

 She’d taken over his bed as usual (“It has the softer mattress,” she often complained), lying on her stomach with her legs swinging absently in the air behind her. Blue eyes focused intently on some sort of contraption she’d built. It was new but it had a sort of wheel that would spin on its own if she wound it up long enough. It was simple and had little purpose but this is what his sister did: she made little things until she made something bigger. In the meantime, it was just for fun.

He hoped it wouldn’t always be that way; Hannah was far too smart for that.

“Are you going to be away long?” the fourteen-year-old asked. She’d be turning fifteen this summer. Daniel wasn’t sure if he’d be there. “You’ve never been away long before.” 

She said it so matter-of-factly. But when she looked up at him, Hannah had pinned him with a look that Daniel couldn’t quite identify. She wasn’t sad exactly… but she was unhappy. Angry was more like it, but she seemed to think better than to show it. He sighed.

Hannah had always been attached to her big brother, despite the age gap (six years and two hundred and fifty-six days; she’d counted) and yet he hadn’t really thought about how mad she’d be that he was leaving. A few more years and she would be an adult herself. He always figured that she could take care of herself by now. Perhaps he should have considered her feelings more carefully, even if it wouldn’t have changed his mind.

“It’s the military, Han. It’s gonna be awhile.”

Hannah scrunched up her nose at the nickname, her look now morphing into a very clear glare. She’d perfected it over nearly fifteen years; Daniel was pretty sure she had started glaring at him when she was a baby, before she would even know what she was doing.

“Why can’t you just stay here? I thought you were going to help Dad in the workshop. I wouldn’t have to say goodbye if you stayed.”

Daniel stopped packing when he heard her voice go up in pitch. She was trying not to cry and as much as she would try to hide it, he knew. She’d been such a crybaby as a little kid and he was probably the reason she didn’t cry much now. He’d teased her too much and it was the only thing he’d teased her about. He wished he could take it back.

Sitting besides her, he ruffled her hair, if only to hear the indignant screech she made at him. If their mother was home, she would still have come running (“Daniel, are you teasing your sister _again?_ ”) even though they were older now. At least she seemed distracted from any tears now.

“I’m rubbish at helping Dad and you know it. And I’m not helping Mum. Horses could do better needlework than me.” 

He wouldn’t have minded either. A tailor wasn’t a bad job. Neither was a blacksmith and yet he was talentless at either. He wasn’t much of a tinkerer either—that was his sister’s area of expertise. She made him look like an idiot and he didn’t even mind. But that didn’t mean he didn’t still have to find something to do with his own life. A couple of friends had talked about becoming soldiers. Daniel was fairly certain that he was the only one to follow through enlisting. 

“And you’ve got all that fancy stuff—” He gestured to the object Hannah was still absently fiddling with and she glanced at it before looking back up at him. “—so I don’t think I’m needed there.” 

Hannah shook her head. She handed the object and its little wheel to him. He took it without question, in part because the corners still looked a little sharp. Whatever she’d used to make it was clearly scrap of some kind. Leftover from their father, no doubt. She never ran out of material that way.

“We could work together. We talked about it before! Didn’t you mean it when you said that?”          

She looked as if she expected the answer to be ‘no’ and it was heartbreaking.         

“I meant it, Han, but then you got so good at it. You have more ideas than I’ll ever have and the detail you put into them… I’ve always said you’ll be great at whatever you do. I would slow you down.”          

Another fierce glare. She grumbled under her breath, “You’re a terrible liar.”           

“Come on, is it so bad I want my little sister to get all the credit?” he asked, feigning shock.        

Hannah frowned but shook her head again, this time slower. She seemed unable to counter that argument.           

“No,” she replied.   

Daniel patted her shoulder then stood up to continue packing, including the weird little contraption amongst his things. Hannah hadn’t just given it to him to hold. He had a whole collection of them by now but he would bring this one.

“It would still be better if you stayed,” she said, rolling onto her back and sighing dramatically, like a teenager would. “You’re messing up all my plans if you’re not going to be my partner.”

“Partner for what?” he asked.

“I’m not sure yet but it was going to be something. Something big,” she added pointedly.

He reached over and ruffled her hair again, making her screech at him and sit up irritably. Hannah grabbed his pillow and threw it at his head. Her aim was good but not great. She hit him in the shoulder and it bounced off and onto the floor. Then she sat and watched and he continued to organize his belongings, both in silence.

“Don’t go.”

Her voice was quiet this time. It seemed like a last ditch effort to get him to stay. When Daniel looked at her, Hannah’s eyes were wide and glossy. She didn’t seem to be trying to hide it this time. “I know I’m just a kid and I’m a crybaby and you don’t want to stay but I want you here. Don’t leave me alone.” 

“Hannah…” 

“Don’t leave me alone!” 

And then she leapt off of the bed, throwing herself into his arms. Until recently, she had been so small. Now she was tall and awkward and almost all limbs but it didn’t matter. He hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head. If he was going to miss anyone the most, it would be his sister and he knew it. 

“I’ll be back to visit before you know it. You never know. Maybe no one is fighting and they won’t even need me. They’ll just send me home and you can rub it in my face then, okay?”

Her head was buried in his shirt but he heard her sniffle and felt her nod without pulling away.

“You have so much you’re going to do in life, Hannah. You don’t need me to distract you from it. Just because I’m not here doesn’t mean I won’t be with you. I have always supported you and I always will. Even if you’re a crybaby.”

She punched him in the arm without even looking. 

“I deserved that. Now just promise me—” He gently tugged her back by the shoulders, holding her there so he could look at her properly. “—promise me that you’ll look after Mum and Dad and that you _will_ keep tinkering with those inventions of yours. You can do that whether I’m here or not but if I come back and find that you’ve stopped…”

He let the sentence hang for dramatic effect. She smiled finally and he knew it had worked. Letting her go, she just threw herself on the _soft_ mattress again. No doubt she’d lay claim to it the moment he was out of the house. The room would probably be hers too. He might as well resign himself to that now, he thought. 

“Just invent something cool for me, okay? And please, Han, don’t set dad’s workshop on fire again…” 

“It was one time, you giant ass!” 

This time she threw a pair of winter socks at him and they hit him square in the face.


	8. Leaving Freya

_VIII. "_ _Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best have gone to their eternal rest.”_

* * *

 “You don’t have to come, you know.”

Hannah sat cross-legged, sketching on a scrap of parchment she’d snagged somewhere. It had started out as relaxing but the moment she realized whom she was drawing, she rubbed her hand through the charcoal, watching the familiar face vanish under the smudges. Now her hand was black and the drawing was gone. Hannah huffed a little irritably.

 “I know this—” Hannah waved the hand holding the charcoal in a vague direction, mostly gesturing for emphasis rather than meaning. “—arrangement has worked out so far but I won’t ask you to come if it means leaving Freya.” 

To be honest, Hannah didn’t know if Fay’vre even liked Freya or its two surrounding twin islands. Would it be too much to assume that perhaps she just liked Hannah’s company? As if she would ever find out, Hannah thought, faintly smiling to herself. Fay’vre didn’t really share such things with anyone. But still, it seemed appropriate to at least ask before assuming Fay’vre would go anywhere with her if it involved such lengthy travel. It would be good to have her though, she thought, as someone else’s words came to mind…

 “... _spend some time with Fay’vre…”_

The smile vanished as quickly as it had appeared, replaced instead with a bit of a scowl. _That_ was the other reason she had little hesitation about leaving.

For months, she had been dodging Katie and somehow managing to avoid every single place it might be possible to run into the other woman. She wasn’t sure if Theoduin was intentionally trying to torture her, but the lack of reason to get away from Freya for so long had been unbearably smothering. Asking her to leave the island completely… well, that was possibly the best news she’d gotten since her relationship had fallen apart in the first place. Was she thrilled to be following someone for him? Not particularly, but that was a given by now. If anything, he was conveniently giving her what she wanted—an excuse to go _very_ far away—and Hannah wasn’t sure if she was meant to be grateful or if her skin crawling at the thought was normal. 

She’d settled for something right in the middle to ease her conscience.

“I’m going though,” she continued, not really waiting for Fay’vre’s response. She would miss the elf if she chose to stay but it wasn’t quite on the forefront of her mind right now. After all, she wouldn’t be _that_ lonely. She’d have this Hond person to keep an eye on. He seemed… interesting, if anything. A murderer by the sound of it, but Hannah wasn’t that picky. She just did what she was told, as always.

 _No one told you to lie to her._  

That little voice in the back of her head needed to be silenced. She rubbed her hands on her pants, trying to rid them of the charcoal smudges. Her hands were somewhat clean but the outfit was forfeit.

Hannah went to stand, knowing that her mother would be waiting for her—for both of them, actually. Much as Hannah was not exactly fond of the idea of living at home again, her mother had been sympathetic. Besides, she’d taken a liking to Fay’vre which meant she spent more time fussing over the socially awkward elf than her own daughter. It suited Hannah just fine. Meanwhile, her father just laughed and teased the two, much to Hannah’s amusement. He never fussed. Hannah knew that both of her parents loved Katie but her father had asked only a few questions, nor had he made any attempts to fix anything. Hannah was old enough to handle her own relationships, he’d told his wife one night, and no amount of motherly meddling would change either woman’s mind on the matter. It was best to simply leave them both be. 

Her mother liked to meddle anyway. And it was tolerable, so long as it was only her, but thankfully, Fay’vre had proven to be a convenient distraction. If she didn’t want to come with Hannah, perhaps she could convince the elf to stay with her parents, lest her mother run into Katie one day and decide it was time to _start_ meddling… 

She must have been staring off into space because it wasn’t until it had gotten awkward that Hannah even noticed that Fay’vre was watching her. Her mouth was halfway open, as if she was going to say something just to fill the silence. When Hannah snapped to attention again, she looked visibly relieved which made Hannah wonder what exactly she was going to say in the first place. 

“Come on,” Hannah said, offering a charcoal-stained hand to her friend. Fay’vre seemed to give her a look and Hannah shrugged. “What? It’s going to take a month to wash off anyway.”

As they walked back, Hannah shoved her hands in her pockets, and realized that she’d never gotten an answer. Glancing back at her friend, a few paces behind, she smiled.

“If I leave…” No, not right. _Try again, Hannah._ “When I leave, I want you to come.”

The smile widened and a cheeky twinkle returned to her eyes for just a moment.

 “You’d be bored without me and you know it.”


	9. Told You So

_IX. "Even in the grave, all is not lost.”_

* * *

_Thwack._

That was the sound it make when a pebble was launched from a slingshot at the small wooden target Hannah had attached to the tree opposite her. There was a bull’s-eye painted onto the centre but the pebble itself bounced off the edge and fell noisily to the forest floor below. Somewhere nearby, leaves rustled as something scurried through the branches, fleeing for safety from the skinny human girl that was perched about twenty feet away. She loaded another pebble into the slingshot and _thwack._

It too clattered against the target but was nowhere near hitting the centre. 

With a frustrated huff, Hannah put the slingshot away and leaned back against the trunk of the tree she was hiding in. She wasn’t supposed to be this far out in the woods by herself but at sixteen now, she had developed a stubborn resistance to the ever-growing list of rules that her mother set out for her. Most of them, Hannah decided, were just there to smother her. Ever since her brother died, it was as if her mother thought that Hannah was made of glass. Hannah wasn’t, of course, and if it weren’t for her idiot brother going off and getting himself killed, she’d have no reason to think so. 

Those were the words that had sent Hannah fleeing to the woods, realizing her terrible mistake, before her mother could have her tongue and whatever tiny pieces would be left when her mother was finished with her. She would apologize later, Hannah thought, but for now she didn’t feel like going home just yet. This particular section of the woods had become her secret hiding place, ever since her brother died. It was close enough to the city that she doubted she was really in any danger, but far enough away that if she shouted at the trees, there would be no one around to shout back.

And she shouted at them a lot. Like now, for instance, when she yelled,

“It’s all your fault, you know!” 

It was a sunny summer’s day and a light breeze caused a few leaves to rustle near her ear, but besides that, the weather was calm. There was, as predicted, no response.

“I told you not to go but you had to go and ‘do the right thing’ _like an idiot would,”_ she continued, narrowing her eyes up at the sun-speckled canopy above her. This time, the leaves were silent. “We needed you here. Dad needed you in his shop. Mum needed you to set an example. But you said you were never going to be good at a trade like Dad or do all the things Mum expected of you. Well, what about me? Why did you think that _I_ would be any better at it?” 

Hannah didn’t know when she’d gotten into the habit of ‘talking’ to her brother. But every time she came out here, it was inevitable that she would eventually start on some angry tirade, directed at Daniel in particular. Sometimes, one thing led to another, and she would talk about herself as well, or her parents. One time, it was about the girl down the road that Hannah fancied but couldn’t muster up the courage to actually talk to. But mostly, she yelled at Daniel until she was satisfied he had heard all of it, wherever he was now. He deserved it, she thought; he had left her alone and now he would be responsible for all of the poor squirrels who had to listen to her ranting.

“It’s been a year and Mum can’t call what happened anything but a _tragic accident._ I know she still cries when she thinks I’m asleep. But it wasn’t some tragic accident, you were just stupid. Stupid enough to think putting your life in the hands of strangers would do you any good. You could barely swing a sword when you left. You said you were doing the right thing but _where are you now?_ What was so _right_ about dying?” 

 _Don’t cry._ When she got angry, she cried. Still the crybaby Daniel had always called her when they were little. He had apologized for that, years later, but he wasn’t wrong. Her mother said she wore her heart on her sleeve. Hannah thought that was a ridiculous place to put it and tried to bottle everything up now instead. At least until she was alone, by which point she usually felt ready to burst at the seams. 

“At least if you were going to do something stupid, I hoped you’d end up doing something _cool,_ like staring down a dragon. Then you’d have to come home, just to see the look on Mum’s face in person.”

Hannah could just imagine her mother’s red face and pursed lips as she tried not to explode, shouting at Daniel for being so _foolish_ and to _be more careful, damnit._ At least in that scenario, her brother was alive to be lectured for his recklessness. There had always been a certain amount of risk to becoming a soldier, but it wasn’t like Freya was at war with anyone. They’d thought that perhaps he would never even have to leave the city. Then he had been assigned to routine patrols and those, while more dangerous than keeping the barracks clean, were still supposedly safe enough. 

Instead, her brother had managed to be one of twelve killed by a frost giant during one of those patrols. Ever since the day the news came, it had never sat right with Hannah. She had no one to blame, for starters. Someone had ordered Daniel to go on that patrol, of course. But Daniel, knowing the risks but believing that he was doing the world an inkling of good, still went off to do so. If _that_ was doing the ‘right thing’ then Hannah would not make the same mistake as he had. She thought she knew her brother; sometimes, she wondered if rather than just be a merchant’s son, he thought that he was going to be a hero someday. If that was the case, then she knew to steer clear of so-called heroics as well. No good really came of them, she had decided, if someone had to get hurt in order to be one.

Sometimes, bad things just won and there was nothing to be done about it. That frost giant was still out there, she was fairly certain. Hannah could blame _it_ for killing her brother in the first place but what would that do? It wouldn’t bring him back and there was nothing she could do to avenge him. She could barely hit a target from a couple dozen feet away. And so, the best she could do, it seemed, was to be angry. Too bad it didn’t make her feel any better though.

Besides, anger soon passed and she eventually found that it didn’t return as often or last for quite as long. Mostly, it reared its ugly head on days like these, when Hannah said something she shouldn’t have and needed the time to cool down afterwards. After a little while alone, she felt less upset and instead filled with the same frustration she’d felt when her brother was alive and had annoyed her somehow. Like most teenagers, it seemed only natural just to act out of spite… even if these days, she could only hurl petty insults into the forest for the birds to hear. 

After rubbing her eyes for a moment, Hannah stared up at the foliage above, imagining she could actually see the sky through it. She was far enough from the city that she knew it would be clear and blue, just the way she liked it. Unlike when she climbed up onto the roof of her house lately and there were more of those absurd balloon-powered ‘ships’ in the sky, she thought somewhat out of the blue. Her brother had only seen one but he’d thought of them to be some stroke of genius. Hannah had disagreed. Thinking about them now, it suddenly felt as if he was sitting right next to her, just to rub in the fact he was too blind to see what an eyesore they really were. It was that feeling of fondness that finally replaced her anger, letting Hannah relax for the first time in hours. 

“Oh yeah,” she added in a lighter tone, looking out into the forest as if looking for any sign he could hear her, “those ‘airship’ things you liked so much? They’re actually getting kind of popular. Too bad they’re still awful to look at.” 

Although there was no one there to see her, or perhaps because of it, Hannah mockingly stuck her tongue out for emphasis. They’d had many an argument over whether those airships would last. She could imagine his exact response: an eyebrow raised, shrugging one shoulder, and replying with a plain old ‘yeah?’ as if to ask why he should care. He always seemed to be daring her to make some witty comeback. Even though she was alone, she continued: 

“Someday someone is going to design better ones and _you’re_ going to miss me saying ‘I told you so.’”

There was a rustle in the leaves around her as the warm summer breeze picked up again but to Hannah it sounded as if the trees were suddenly laughing at her sass. She should have felt sad, imagining all the things her brother would have loved but would never get to see, but instead she had the distinct feeling that she’d made him laugh again.

With a smug grin, she finally started making her way back down the tree. It was time to go home and apologize. And maybe, this time, she’d also stop thinking of her brother as having been quite as much of a pain in her ass. Making her way back toward the city, Hannah smiled. Yeah. _Maybe._


End file.
